


Coming Back.

by Kaesteranya



Category: Persona 3
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-06-13
Updated: 2011-05-04
Packaged: 2017-10-18 23:46:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/194585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaesteranya/pseuds/Kaesteranya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Who wants to sleep in a city that never wakes up / blinded by nostalgia?</i></p><p>A look at that last fatal month, and how people forgive, come together, and fall right back apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. All stories have a beginning, middle and end.

In their childhood, Shinji was always the leader and Akihiko was always chasing after him down hallways, across sidewalks, through tall grass. Puberty did not change things very much, beyond giving them triggers to pull against mind-eating monsters. Even when they used to shoot each other with their own guns to find strength, they were never one but two.

  
They could have been happy in the early and middle years of their adolescence because Shinji, ever the leader, finally declared that they were in love and gave Akihiko the best blow job he would ever have in his life to prove it. What Akihiko never bothered to tell him was that they had probably been in love with each other since they were eight, when they had tumbled into the creek and had to wait for their clothes to dry before presenting themselves to the matrons. The wrestling had been a little _too_ friendly that day. They could have been happy, but life never did like to go the way one wanted it to. People died, they argued, and Akihiko ended up saying some things that he would regret for years to come. Shinji walked out, but sometimes Akihiko liked to think that he had left his friend behind first.

  
At the beginning of his senior year Akihiko thought that he would spend it watching Shinji from the distance between Shinji’s favorite spot behind Port Island Station and the alleyway that was Akihiko’s only entrance into punk central. It would sometimes occur to Akihiko that he really ought to tell Shinji how pathetic he was, but the dead look in the brown-haired youth’s eyes always deterred him. They were mirrors, but Akihiko would never be the first to admit it. They still talked (argued) every once in a while, but it was Minato Arisato’s entrance and Ken Yamada’s unpredicted return that changed things.

  
Shinji’s return was their last chance and miraculously, both of them knew it. It was a month that started cold, progressed with their fumbling towards something better, and ended with Akihiko staring at Shinji’s grave.


	2. You look a little bit older, a little bit colder.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome home. It's been a while, sweetness.

### 3:42 PM, SEPTEMBER 3, 2009.

  


It was a hot day, hotter than it should have been given the fact that autumn had already come to the island. The usual swarm of students, office folk, young couples and housewives moved through Port Island Station, filling the place with their chatter as they waited for the train, the taxi, the bus or the boat that would bring them to their real destination. In the meantime, far above all their heads, seagulls circled lazily through the sky, white against blue, calling out to each other across the clouds. Akihiko found himself watching the birds from where he was, stretched out on one of the benches overlooking the coastline with an arm just over his eyes to shade them from the sun. He focused on their silhouettes, and strained to hear their cries over the noise of the crowd around him.

  
“Here.”

  
A Mitsuru-shaped silhouette had cut itself into the sky, throwing Akihiko into its shadow — it was holding out a bottle of Pocari Sweat. The white-haired boxer took the bottle with muttered thanks and sat up, just as Mitsuru came around to join him. She had a carton of orange juice. He opened his bottle and took a few gulps. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and crossed her legs. He broke the silence first.

  
“Do you really think he’s going to come?”

  
“He said he would, wouldn’t he?” Mitsuru leaned back and took a sip from her own drink. “You were the one who told him about Amada-kun,” Mitsuru pointed out after a moment. “I would think that you’d be more sure about him coming than I would be.”

  
Akihiko looked down, swishing Pocari Sweat around in its bottle. He considered replying, saying things about friendships turned sour and trust turned something worse and how the one they were waiting for definitely wasn’t the one they knew from years back, but soon decided against it.

  
Shinjiro Aragaki turned up with the sunset, during one of the lulls between the departure of one batch of travelers and the arrival of the next — they saw him coming from the back alleys of the station, from that place that Akihiko called his prison whenever frustration got the better of him. He noticed them immediately, and did not look happy to see them.

  
“Tch. I didn’t ask for an escort.”

  
“I wasn’t about to let you escape,” Mitsuru coolly returned, rising to her feet. She stepped forward, extending her hand. “It’s been a long time, Shinji.”

  
“For you, anyway.” Shinji shouldered his duffel bag and turned away. Mitsuru, however, stopped him from going towards the station with a polite cough.

  
“We’ve been provided with a car.”

  
The brown-haired boy snorted. “Should’ve figured,” he muttered, as he walked past them. Mitsuru only smiled and followed, but not before patting Akihiko’s shoulder.

  
The ride back to the dormitory was predictably awkward: Mitsuru stayed in the front with the driver, leaving Shinji and Akihiko to sit on opposite ends at the back. For about half the ride, Mitsuru talked about SEES and Shadows and how things had changed; Shinji’s contributions to that conversation were, of course, short and gruff. Akihiko kept his mouth shut and his gaze on the scenery the whole way. Most of the other members of SEES were already at home by the time they arrived. Mitsuru must have told them that Shinji would be coming in, from the way they were acting (i.e. Junpei fleeing as soon as he was properly introduced and Yukari being even friendlier than usual to cover up her nervousness). There was no sign of Ken, and Minato only arrived when Shinji, Mitsuru and Akihiko were upstairs, inspecting Shinji’s old room.

  
“Oh, Arisato! You’re just in time.” Mitsuru gestured for the boy to come forward. “Shinji just came in today. You’ve met before, right? I want to give him time to settle in, so I’m afraid that we won’t be able to go to Tartarus tonight.”

  
“All right…” Minato Arisato trailed off, looking past his senior and at the sullen newcomer that she had apparently dragged through the door with her. The boy visibly flinched and offered an uneasy smile when Shinji finally turned to look at him. He was quick to excuse himself.

  
“That the runt you were referring to?” Shinji muttered as soon as Minato was gone. Mitsuru chuckled.

  
“He’s better at Shadow-killing than he looks.” Mitsuru handed him a small bundle of keys. “That’s for your room, and for the front door to the dorm. I’ll be upstairs if you need anything.”

  
“Don’t count on it.”

  
But Mitsuru only smiled and headed for the stairs, leaving Shinji and Akihiko standing outside of the room, staring at each other. Shinji broke away first, and not without a derisive snort. Akihiko stepped out of his way when he stalked into his room, but the white-haired boxer lingered in the doorway, watching the other Persona user move around. The place seemed far too big for a homeless delinquent and his single duffel bag, he noted.

  
“You got something to say?”

  
And there were a lot of things, only too many things, some of them about the whys of returning and others about the mistakes of yesterday, but the way Shinji looked at that moment distracted Akihiko. It might have been the light or the curve of the other boy’s back, but for some reason, at that moment, his old friend seemed smaller and more distant than he should have been.

  
“The next full moon is in two days,” he heard himself say instead. “I hope you’re ready by then.”

  
“Hmph. Tell those kids that, not me.”

  
“They’ve been doing this for months already. You’re the one who just came back.” Akihiko pushed himself off of the doorframe. “See you tomorrow.”

  
Shinji waited for Akihiko to leave before he closed the door to his room and took a good, long look at the place. He recalled, just as he pulled out that small bottle of pills from his pocket, the last time he and Akihiko had been in his room, and what it had been like. He shrugged his coat off, tossed himself unto the bed. The mattress and the pillows were still too soft, just like they had been two years ago. Shinji shut his eyes. It was too early for him to sleep, he knew, but it was better than staying awake and remembering.  



End file.
